Live updates: Iran’s foreign minister says supreme leader and president are alive, ‘as far as I know’

Kuwait’s civil aviation authority says a drone has targeted the capital’s main international airport and wounded several employees and caused material damage.

Abdullah Rajhi, spokesman of the civil aviation authority, says the damage is being assessed and repair work is ongoing.

He says that emergency measures are being taken, adding that the situation is under control.

Pakistan has condemned Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran and also denounced Iranian strikes against Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement that the attacks on Iran came “at a time when diplomatic efforts were underway to reach a peaceful and negotiated solution” and warned that such actions could undermine regional peace and stability with far-reaching consequences.

The ministry also condemned the death of a Pakistani national in the UAE during the attacks.

Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has spoken with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Sharif said that Pakistan will “always stand with its Saudi brothers and sisters, at all times to come, and under all circumstances.”

The Israeli military say that that “dozens” of missiles have been fired by Iran at Israel.

While many have been intercepted and no serious injuries have been reported, the missile barrages were continuing after sundown. Israel’s military chief gave an address on national television, warning that the defenses aren’t “hermetic” and the public should obey safety instructions and remain vigilant.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia has questioned whether President Donald Trump has learned anything “from decades of U.S. meddling in Iran and forever wars in the Middle East.”

Kaine has spearheaded bipartisan war powers resolutions to limit Trump’s military interventions abroad.

“For months, I have raised hell about the fact that the American people want lower prices, not more war — especially wars that aren’t authorized by Congress, as required by the Constitution, and don’t have a clear objective,” Kaine said in a statement.

“These strikes are a colossal mistake, and I pray they do not cost our sons and daughters in uniform and at embassies throughout the region their lives,” he said.

Kaine also called for the U.S. Senate to “immediately return” to the Capitol and vote on whether to authorize or limit U.S. strikes against Iran.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has spoken by phone with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman following an Iranian attack in Saudi Arabia.

El-Sissi expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia, and stressed the importance of intensifying efforts to “contain the escalation” in the region.

“Continued military escalation will only bring more suffering to the people of the region and undermine development opportunities,” el-Sissi said.

The U.S. House Democratic leader says that “Iran is a bad actor and must be aggressively confronted for its human rights violations, nuclear ambitions, support of terrorism and the threat it poses to our allies like Israel and Jordan in the region.”

But Jeffries has said in a statement that outside “exigent circumstances,” the president “must seek authorization for the preemptive use of military force that constitutes an act of war.”

U.S. President Donald Trump “failed to seek Congressional authorization prior to striking Iran,” Jeffries said. He also said that the latest round of strikes “has left American troops vulnerable to Iran’s retaliatory actions.”

”We pray for the safety of the men and women of the U.S. military as they have been put into harm’s way in a dangerous theater of war,” Jeffries said.

Explosions have been heard in surrounding areas of the major city in the south of Iran, according to the semiofficial news agency Fars news.

The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting on the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.

Israel’s U.N. Mission says the meeting will take place at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) at the request of Bahrain and France.

Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, says Israel “is strong, united and determined to defend its citizens against any existential threat.” Danon also said that “Israel will never allow an Iranian nuclear state.”

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, meanwhile, condemned the strikes on Iran and the Islamic Republic’s retaliation.

“The use of force by the United States and Israel against Iran, and the subsequent retaliation by Iran across the region, undermine international peace and security,” Guterres said in a statement. He also called for an immediate ceasefire and for all parties to return to the negotiating table.

Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian are alive “as far as I know.”

Egypt’s top diplomat has discussed the military escalation in the Middle East with his counterparts in several regional and European countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Germany and France.

Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty warned that the escalation in Iran will have “dire repercussions” on Mideast security and stability. In a statement, he called for prioritizing political and diplomatic solutions to avert a “comprehensive confrontation” in the region.

Congress was notified before the strikes on Iran, as required by law.

The notifications mentioned ballistic missiles, but didn’t indicate that the strikes would be so expansive or the goals so broad, according to a person familiar with the notifications who requested anonymity to discuss them.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached out personally to some top lawmakers.

Oil markets are closed for the weekend but are set to see price swings next week with the impact of the U.S. strikes on production and transport unclear.

Pre-conflict scenarios have foreseen a quick price spike that fades if Iranian pipelines and its Kharg island terminal remain operational. But there would be a bigger price spike and longer-lasting impact if oil infrastructure or supplies are interrupted, for instance because of disruption of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz that sees 20% of global oil supply pass through each day.

Limited strikes on Iran’s nuclear program and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that avoid a change of government or all-out war could see prices jump $5-$10 based on fear alone, according to Rystad Energy.

A wider war, however, involving Iranian disruption of tanker traffic could see crude push past $90 per barrel and U.S. gas prices “well above” $3 per gallon, according to Clayton Seigle at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

International benchmark Brent crude closed at a seven-month high of $72.87 on Friday.

Saudi Arabia says Iran targeted its capital, Riyadh, and its eastern region in an attack.

Saudi Arabia made the announcement on its state-run Saudi Press Agency. It called the attack “blatant and cowardly” and said it was repelled. Saudi Arabia had reached a Chinese-mediated detente with Iran in 2023.

China’s government says it’s “highly concerned” about the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and called for an immediate halt to the military actions and a return to negotiations.

“Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has voiced support for the military strikes on Iran, calling the country “an accomplice of Putin” for supplying Shahed drones and the technology for Moscow to produce them and other weapons to Russia during its four-year war against Ukraine.

Zelenskyy posted on X that the emphasis now should be to save as many lives as possible and prevent any expansion of the war.

“It is important that the United States is acting decisively. Whenever there is American resolve, global criminals weaken. This understanding must also come to the Russians,” he said.

One of the senior U.S. lawmakers recently briefed by Trump administration officials on Iran says that the United States is entering a “war of choice.”

“Everything I have heard from the administration before and after these strikes on Iran confirms this is a war of choice with no strategic endgame,” said Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

He also expressed his concerns to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio directly that military action in the region “almost never ends well for the United States.”

“It does not appear that Donald Trump has learned the lessons of history,” Himes said.

The counterterrorism unit in Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish-run region says that U.S.-led coalition forces had “intercepted and shot down a number of missiles and bomb-laden drones in Irbil province.”

There were no casualties or damage reported from the attacks or their interception, but Irbil saw widespread power outages after a key gas field that supplies much of the region’s electricity stopped operations.

The Kurdish regional government’s ministries of natural resources and electricity says that Dana Gas, which operates the Khor Mor field, had halted operations “due to the extraordinary circumstances and the ongoing events in the region and in order to protect the lives of employees.”

The field has in the past periodically been targeted by drone strikes. The halting of production there will decrease electricity production capacity in the region by between 2,500 and 3,000 megawatts, the ministries said.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy affairs says the country has the right to defend itself.

Hamid Ghanbari told Al Jazeera that Iran will retaliate when the region is used to launch a war on a sovereign country. Ghanbari says that Iran is concerned about regional security, but the United States isn’t.

“We want a solution through politics, but all what we see is that America and the American leadership fell in the Israeli trap” and launched a war,” he said.

The 32-nation trans-Atlantic alliance is “closely following developments in Iran and the region,” NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said.

NATO members like the United States and Turkey are bound by a common defense guarantee called Article 5 to consider an attack on one member as an attack on them all.

The alliance says “assistance may or may not involve the use of armed force, and can include any action that Allies deem necessary to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

Article 6 gives a geographic scope of members’ mutual assistance obligation, “primarily limiting it to the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.”

Britain, France and Germany are calling for a resumption of U.S.-Iran negotiations and condemned Iranian attacks on countries in the region.

They did not comment on the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.

U.K. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz issued a statement saying their countries didn’t take part in the strikes on Iran, but are in close contact with the U.S., Israel and partners in the region.

The three countries have led efforts to reach a negotiated solution over Iran’s nuclear program.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says he supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its government from further threatening international peace and security.

He says Canada is clear in its position that “the Islamic Republic of Iran is the principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East.” Carney also is urging Canadians to shelter in place in Iran after the country was attacked this morning by the United States and Israel.

Egypt says it is deeply concerned about “the serious military escalation” in the region following the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement that the escalation risks expanding the conflict, which could lead to “comprehensive chaos” across the Middle East.

The ministry said a military solution will only lead to more violence, and that “diplomacy and dialogue” is the sole option for Mideast security and stability. The ministry also condemned Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries.

Two people familiar with the operation, including a U.S. official and a person briefed on the attacks, said the targets of the Israeli strikes included members of Iran’s leadership.

There was no word on whether the attacks were successful. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified information on an ongoing operation.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran as “a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent U.N. member state.”

It demanded an immediate halt to the military campaign and a return to diplomacy.

In a statement posted to Telegram, the ministry accused Washington and Tel Aviv of “hiding behind” concerns about Iran’s nuclear program while actually pursuing regime change.

It warned the attacks risked triggering a “humanitarian, economic and possibly radiological catastrophe” in the region and accused the U.S. and Israel of “plunging the Middle East into an abyss of uncontrolled escalation.”

Jordan’s state news agency says the military shot down Saturday two ballistic missiles that were targeting Jordanian territories.

The agency said authorities received 12 calls regarding the fall of shrapnel and falling objects in areas including the capital Amman as well as the cities of Irbid, Zarqa Madaba and Jarash.

Australia’s leader says his country supports the United States in its effort to stop Iran from obtaining an atomic bomb.

In a lengthy statement posted on X, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the country “stands with the brave people of Iran in their struggle against oppression.”

He described Iran’s current leadership is a destabilizing force, and he noted two attacks on Australian soil that were blamed on the country.
Australia in August cut off diplomatic relations with Iran and expelled its ambassador after accusing it of orchestrating two antisemitic attacks in the country.

Syrian state media corrected a report it issued earlier regarding a missile that exploded in a building and killed four people in southern Syria, saying it was left behind from the country’s 15-year conflict and not an Iranian missile.

Earlier, state television reported that it was an Iranian missile that struck the building before issuing a correction.

The broadcaster said the missile exploded in an industrial area in the city, but gave no other details.

(Correction: Syrian state media corrected its initial report that an Iranian missile hit the building.)

Volker Türk expressed regret about the strikes by Israel and the United States, and the “retaliatory” strikes by Iran.

“As always, in any armed conflict, it is civilians who end up paying the ultimate price,” said Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Bombs and missiles are not the way to resolve differences but only result in death, destruction and human misery.”

He called for restraint, de-escalation and a return to the negotiating table.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency committee on Saturday morning and planned to hold calls with allies in the coming hours.

“We do not want to see further escalation into a wider regional conflict”, a U.K. government spokesperson said, reiterating Britain’s support for a negotiated solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Britain was not involved in the U.S.-Israeli strikes.

The U.K.'s Foreign Office also updated its travel advice to warn against all travel to Israel and Palestinian territories, and urged British nationals in other Middle Eastern countries to “immediately shelter in place”.

America’s massive use of air power alone against Iran won’t be enough to rid the country of its repressive theocracy unless the U.S. succeeds in persuading the Iranian people and elements of the current government to actively back change, security expert Phillips O’Brien says.

This is crucial to remember because U.S. President Donald Trump appears to have launched this attack for domestic political reasons and so will not want to risk heavy American casualties by putting troops on the ground to back up the air campaign, said O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland.

While air power can destroy buildings and weaken the current leadership, lasting government change won’t occur without the cooperation of people within Iran who are willing to support Trump’s aim of replacing the current government, O’Brien told The Associated Press.

“What air power can do is attack the present regime, in some cases quite powerfully, but it cannot guarantee it will be replaced or how it will be replaced,” he said.

We should be able to see within a few days whether support for the ruling theocracy is weakening if Iranian military units start to rebel or members of the regime begin to speak out against the country’s rulers, O’Brien said.

In northern Tehran, supermarkets are seeing a surge of customers seeking bread and bottled water.

However, supply has been limited, and some of the items most in demand, including bread, eggs, bottled water and milk, are currently unavailable in certain stores.

Long queues have also been observed at gas stations across the city.

State television showed footage from one of Tehran’s highways, Soleimani highway, where extremely heavy traffic was visible on west-to-east routes.

Qatar says it faced a third wave of Iranian missile fire, which it said it intercepted.

Emirates, one of the world’s biggest long-haul airlines, says several of its flights have been affected by the closure of the airspace in the United Arab Emirates.

The carrier is based at Dubai International Airport, the busiest hub for international travel.

It says it is working with local officials and adjusting its operations, and it urged passengers to check their flight status online.

Emirates transported 53.7 million passengers during its last fiscal year. Many of those passengers, like fellow regional carriers Qatar Airways and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, were transiting the region for destinations elsewhere.

Kuwait’s national news agency says the Gulf country’s air defenses successfully repelled what it called a “heinous Iranian attack” earlier in the day.

Quoting a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the KUNA news agency said Kuwait maintains its right to defend itself.

Kuwait Airways, meanwhile, says it has temporarily suspended flights in and out of the country

The death toll in an Israeli-U.S. strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran rises to at least 40 people killed, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

At least 45 others had been wounded in the attack in Minab in Iran’s Hormozgan province.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has a base in the city.

Neither the U.S. nor Israel has offered any details on the campaign so far.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday condemned what he described as “unwarranted attacks” on Iran during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.

It said the two sides discussed the evolving situation in Iran and the wider region.

According to the statement, Dar also called for” an immediate halt to escalation through urgent resumption of diplomacy to achieve a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the crisis.”

Iranian state media said the U.S.-Israeli attacks targeted a growing list of cities and sites across Iran.

Plumes of smoke could be seen above Tehran due to direct strikes, with reports of explosions in or near the major cities of Isfahan, Shiraz and Tabriz.

Blasts were also reported in several western towns as well as around Persian Gulf port cities that are critical to Iran’s major oil trade, including Asaluyeh.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the strikes “a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state,” demanding an immediate halt to the military campaign and a return to diplomacy.

In a statement posted to Telegram, the ministry accused Washington and Tel Aviv of “hiding behind” concerns about Iran’s nuclear program while pursuing regime change, warning the attacks risked triggering a “humanitarian, economic, and possibly radiological catastrophe” in the region and accusing the United States and Israel of “plunging the Middle East into an abyss of uncontrolled escalation.”

Moscow called the bombing of nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards “unacceptable” and said it stood ready to help broker a peaceful resolution, while placing full responsibility for the escalation on the U.S. and Israel.